First Virginia Bank v. Sutherland (Va. 1977)

Citation: 217 Va. 588 (1977) · Court: Supreme Court of Virginia (Record No. 760091) · Decided: Jan. 14, 1977 · Opinion: Harrison, J.

Source note (2026-10-18):

• Links on this page to https://static.case.law/va/217/cases/0588-01.json are an (unofficial Caselaw Access Project copy, retrieved before 2026-10-18; host disallows automated access); no official or otherwise permitted full-text copy was located on 2026-10-18.

Case page. Legal information, not legal advice. Last verified: 2026-10-16. Source: Caselaw Access Project scan of Virginia Reports (https://static.case.law/va/217/cases/0588-01.json), retrieved 2026-10-16.

Facts

First Virginia Bank financed Warren Preston’s Pontiac, and its lien appeared on the DMV title. After an accident in February 1974, police impounded the car and had William Sutherland (Groveton Arco) tow and store it under his agreement with Fairfax County. Preston defaulted and the bank claimed the car. Sutherland demanded storage charges that grew from USD 197.50 to about USD 480. The bank sued in detinue; the trial court held Sutherland’s charges superior to the bank’s lien.

Holding

Reversed. “[T]he lien of the bank’s security agreement is entitled to priority over the claim asserted by Sutherland, except to the extent of the [USD] 75.00 statutory amount for storage” then allowed by Code § 43-32 against a vehicle subject to a security instrument. The bank was awarded possession on paying USD 75.

Reasoning

• The police-tow statutes (former Code §§ 46.1-2 and 46.1-3) and the county ordinance gave the tower authority to remove the car and a right to recover charges, but created no lien and no priority rule.
• Former Code § 46.1-73 (now § 46.2-640) gives title-recorded security interests “priority over any other liens or security interests … however created,” which the Court in Checkered Flag Motor Car Co. v. Grulke, 209 Va. 427 (1968), read to cover storage liens and, except for the statutory repair amount, repair liens — displacing the UCC default rule (then § 8.9-310) that possessory liens prime security interests.
• After the 1970 amendment to § 43-32 granting a capped storage priority, that cap measures the garage keeper’s priority.

Practical impact

Virginia’s priority caps for keepers and mechanics (today USD 500 storage and USD 1,000 repair against a titled vehicle, §§ 46.2-644.01, 46.2-644.02; USD 500 and USD 1,000 for boats and aircraft, § 43-32) override the UCC rule that possessory liens beat perfected security interests. A buyer at a keeper’s or mechanic’s sale outside the DMV procedure should expect the title lender’s lien to survive beyond the cap; a lender can recover the vehicle by paying only the capped amount.

Good-law status

No citator check run this session (needs_verification). The statutory amounts have been raised and recodified (§§ 43-32, 46.2-640, 46.2-644.01, 46.2-644.02), but the priority structure the Court applied remains in the current text.

Applies in →

virginia, towing-storage-and-mechanics-lien-sales, motor-vehicles